Naomi's Notes - 06/27/04
Musical Day Camp production week is just around the corner - always THE most stressful event for me. Even when things go smoothly, I'm always "exhausted but exhilarated afterwards. This will be our 9th production, but I began doing MDC's in Louisville in the late '80's. The original idea for doing full-scale children's musical theater in a 5-day camp has two sources.
While serving a Georgia church, I was invited in 1978 to join the faculty of the GA Baptist Young Musicians Camp. Each year 300 children spent 5 days at a state assembly eagerly hustling back and forth to music classes, etc. and preparing 7 anthems from memory for a final concert. They had not seen the music before that week, and these were not "all-state" level musicians. I was stunned at how much the children were able to absorb in such a short time because of their total immersion in that setting.
Prior to 1986 my children's choirs had frequently performed seasonal musicals at church. Gradually I realized that our Wednesday rehearsal time was mostly spent preparing for these programs rather than broadening the children's church music experiences through learning to sing well, playing instruments and musical games, learning hymns and hearing stories about church composers in a more relaxed setting.
So, Musical Day Camp was born. I discovered that if adults prepared well in advance and there were enough of us to keep the children happily focused, we could produce a quality musical in 5 summer days, allowing time during the school year to accomplish our other church music goals.
The production "camp" is always very intense, but the children - and their parents - are always amazed at what they are able to accomplish by Saturday. Along the way not only are the children's musical/drama/performing skills increased, their lives are enriched by what they've learned about following Jesus and by the relationships they make at church. They can be justly proud of the results…and so can all the exhausted workers! Don't miss this opportunity to change lives for the Lord - sign up NOW to help!
Naomi